NJ awards up to $400 million tax break in waterfront development off Garden State Parkway
The Riverton development in Sayreville, perhaps the largest redevelopment project on the East Coast, will be receiving no more than a $400 million tax break from the state.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) on Thursday awarded the tax credits for the $2.5 billion mixed-used development on the banks of the Raritan River by the Garden State Parkway.
The proposed development calls for more than 2 million square feet of new residential and commercial space, including 1,300 new residential units, 20% of which will be designated as affordable.
Riverton is the first project approved under the new rules of the Aspire Program, a gap financing tool to support commercial, mixed-use and residential real estate development projects that replaced the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant (ERG).
“With today’s approval, Sayreville is poised to undergo a tremendous renaissance, which will bring new housing, jobs, retail, and recreation that will benefit the entire community,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement.
“Aspire’s flexible design had enabled us to support this long-anticipated project, which will transform a vast tract of land that had been rendered unusable many years ago, and once rehabilitated, in ways that will reinvigorate Sayreville, create jobs for the local community, and improve quality of life for Riverton tenants and residents of nearby areas,” NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan said in a statement.
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“We appreciate the vision of the Murphy administration and the New Jersey Legislature in creating the Aspire program, which will enable us to develop a new mixed-use waterfront community on a site left damaged by industry, delivering quality affordable housing, well-paying jobs for union trade labor, and new tax revenues, along with exciting retail and entertainment destinations and community amenities,” Kevin Polston, the project executive for Riverton, said in a statement. "This truly has been a collaborative process to reclaim the land for long-term public benefit. We are eager to move forward with the first phase of vertical construction in the new year.”
The tax credits will be awarded to Sayreville Seaport Associates Urban Renewal, the developer.
In addition to the 1.2 million square feet of residential space, Riverton will include nearly 800,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
The public amenities will include a public Waterfront Promenade, to which Sayreville residents and the general public will have access. The walkway will feature Heroes Walk, exhibits and installations honoring Sayreville’s veterans, along with lighting, seating areas, gathering spaces, enhanced landscaping and an open-air amphitheater; on-site spaces for municipal offices and two designated open-air performing arts venues.
Aspire is a place-based economic development program created under the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020 (ERA) to support mixed-use, transit-oriented development with tax credits to commercial and residential real estate development projects that have financing gaps.
All residential Aspire projects containing newly constructed units must include at least 20% affordable housing.
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As a performance-based program, projects must certify that all commitments established at time of approval have been met before receiving their first disbursement of tax credits.
“I’m so pleased to see this plan come to life for the residents of Sayreville and our entire region,” Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin said in a statement. “This has been a model of local and state government working together to benefit the community with environmental remediation and economic development. After decades of this land sitting vacant and unsafe, this strategically-located project will serve as an economic engine for the area, broadening the tax base and providing high-quality, affordable housing for generations to come.”
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ awards $400M tax break in Riverton Raritan Bay development project
